Some Things
by green see-through ghosts
Summary: Hey. Oblivious. You eloping with the dictionary, or something? crackfic, AU, DeidaraXHinata
1. Some Things

I was working on an original fic and about to die from overexposure to certain characters when this idea popped into my head. It's rather incomplete; I might write some more of it some time. Really, it was just my dose of fanfiction to help me get through the weekend!

AN: DeidaraXHinata is like a guilty pleasure...my favorite _romantic _crack pairing. Trust me, you can expect more of these two.

**Some Things**

by **green see-through ghosts**

* * *

Some things are transient. Some are forever. Some things make you want to cry, while others cause laughter of the infectious kind to invade the entire neighborhood. Some things make you angry, others make you sad. Some things are unbearable; others make you stronger.

But some things, Hyuga Hinata reasoned, were never meant to be experienced in the first place.

For an example, take prom. The word itself was a shortened version of _promenade_. According to Webster, a promenade was a slow and leisurely stroll for pleasure. Hinata stared at the dictionary in blank disagreement. What on earth was slow and leisurely about prom? If it was for pleasure, why did the girls force their feet into ridiculous shoes that were a size and a half too small and had three inches too much heel? And, explain to her this, where did the strolling come in?

"Hinata? Where are you?"

The lavender-eyed Hyuga slid out of her chair and under the table, bringing the dictionary with her. She held her breath for a long moment, but the curtain remained undisturbed. The speaker had continued her search, and for the moment, she was safe. Hiding in the teleconference room, which was curtained off from the rest of the library with a heavy black sheet, had been a good idea.

Though she wasn't normally the kind to attract attention to herself, Hinata would do _anything _to escape the "getting-ready-for-prom-party" that her classmates Sakura and Ino were throwing, including dodging around the expansive public library to evade their search party. It wasn't that she was afraid, she told herself. It didn't matter that her only crush would be there, probably turning the entire place up-side down with his loud laughter and amusing antics. It didn't matter that Sakura had found her a beautiful dress, all pale lavender silk and lace and pearls. It didn't matter that her cousin had offered to escort her, or that her best friend Kiba had promised to make sure she had fun.

None of it mattered because, when it all came down to Hinata, and just Hinata, the truth of the matter was, she hated people. No, not her friends -- she'd give her life for them. But crowds of teens…bodies thrashing under a strobe light…earsplitting, pulsing music…faces that were as memorable as individual ants…

Hinata shuddered. _You love dancing_, Kiba had said. _You'll have tons of fun! _But Kiba didn't really understand how Hinata felt about dancing. She was a gymnast-inspired ballerina. She performed on stage, surrounded by nothing but wide air and the gazes of those watching her. Even in practice, she had a wide space between herself and the other dancers. There was just something about dancing when you were surrounded by complete and utter strangers that revolted her. If she moved -- really moved -- someone would hit her. Or, even worse, she'd hit them.

Hinata shuddered again, hugging the six-inch thick dictionary against her chest. There was something about strangers, _period_. Not that she was anti-social, or anything. She was just…shy. Painfully shy. And spending four hours shoulder-to-shoulder with someone she didn't know, couldn't know, and never _would _know was not her idea of fun.

"Hey. Oblivious. You eloping with the dictionary, or something?"

With a gasp that was more of a shriek, Hinata jumped a foot and only made it the three inches that were between her head and the table. The boom resounded through the small room as a sharp wave of pain sunk quickly through the top of her skull, into her spine, and down to the tips of her toes.

A low chuckle sounded in the space underneath the table.

"You really were oblivious." Heat that had nothing to do with the physical pain flooded her body, turning her face as red as the loose scarlet capri pants she wore.

"Ow," she mumbled, lifting a long-fingered hand to rub the top of her head before turning to look at the speaker. "I…I d-didn't s-s-see you," she said softly, simply because she had absolutely nothing else to say. And because, well, it was the truth.

"No duh," the blonde-haired teen said, a sarcastic smile twisting his lips. "I gathered that after about the second minute."

"I'm s-sorry," Hinata added, although what she meant to say was, man, how embarrassing! "I'll just…go-"

"Who are you hiding from?" he asked curiously, his blue eyes glimmering in the dim light of underneath-the-table-land. He was sitting cross-legged a few feet away, slightly hunched to keep his head from knocking against the top of the hard-wood table, papers spread all around him and an open binder in his lap.

"No-no one," Hinata said, immediately on guard. "I'm not hiding." The boy laughed, revealing shiny white teeth and a mischievous smile. Okay, maybe not a teen; he looked to be at least five years older than her, and Hinata turned seventeen in three months.

"Like recognizes like…or something," he reminded her, reaching across his wide lane of papers to grab a sheet covered in mathematic equations. There were shadowed circles under his wide eyes, and the hair that fell from its half-ponytail to cover his left eye was damp. He wore casual clothes -- a pair of blue jeans and a black zipped sweatshirt with a gothic art depiction across the front. An open can of Khaos Monster rested a few feet away from him so as not to be upset by his movement, and he spoke around the stick of a sucker that was poking three inches out of his mouth. "If you're not hiding, then I'm Barbie, or something."

Hinata denied the obvious comeback -- nice to meet you, Barbie -- and looked away. It was something she'd come to accept; no matter how good her comebacks were, they never got the chance to see daylight. She simply didn't have the facilities to express them.

"So tell me," the blonde said as he ran his eyes down the sheet of equations; he switched his sucker to the other side of his mouth, then reached for another page. "If you're not hiding, what the hell _are _you doing?"

"Um…nothing," Hinata said softly. Before the words could come all the way out, though, she heard Kiba's voice, much closer than she would have desired.

"Hinata? Are you in here?" Hinata froze mid-word, her eyes darting towards the curtain. She could see only the bottom two feet of it, but that was enough to show her the pair of red high-top Converse that looked an awful lot like Kiba's. "Hinata?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow and looked from her to the curtain and back; he opened his mouth as if to speak. Hinata's eyes widened immediately, despite herself, she shook her head vehemently, a lock of her midnight-purple hair falling forward over her lavender eyes. The blonde grinned and shut his mouth, pulling his sucker out to shake it at her in mock disapproval.

"Damn," Kiba hissed. The curtain fell closed again as he said, "Naruto, she's not here." The shoes disappeared.

After a moment, the blonde asked, "Are you still not hiding?" in a humorous stage-whisper. Hinata didn't bother answering; she simply hunched forward over her dictionary with a sigh. "So really," the blonde laughed as he popped the sticky purple sucker back inside his mouth and looked back down at the paper in his hand, "was that your boyfriend, or something?"

"No!" Hinata exclaimed, her face coloring again.

"Is he angry?" the blonde continued, ignoring her denial as he reached for another sheet.

"No!"

"Then why are you holding the dictionary like it's a shield or something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow without looking at her. Hinata dropped the dictionary on the floor and folded her arms over her form-fitting black hoodie, brushing her hair back from her face with a vicious dash of her head.

"I'm n-not," she said. "And he's _not _my b-boyfriend."

"Okay," the blonde said easily. "Brother?"

"No."

"Okay. So you're hiding from your male friend who is _not _your boyfriend because…?" After a moment of her silence, he lifted his head. "Look, I'm just bored," he explained. "I'm not trying to be creepy, or something." He turned back to his papers. "I haven't spoken two words to another human for the past three days."

"Another…human?"

"Cats don't count, Hinata," he said easily. Hinata blushed at the sound of her name coming from this stranger; when she caught sight of him grinning at her from underneath his hair, she looked away.

"What are you studying?" she asked timidly, fingering a drawstring of her hoodie.

"Nuclear Chemistry," the blonde said calmly, shuffling through a set of papers with hardly a glance for each one.

"Oh," Hinata said, surprised. "Is it…interesting?"

"It's a load of shit," he said frankly as he placed the sheath of papers back inside the binder. "But they only way for me to get a real job with explosives is by getting this degree," he explained at her confused expression. "It's a sad world where paper certificates outweigh pure genius, huh?"

"S-sure," Hinata said warily.

"By the way," he continued, glancing up to lock gazes with her, "I'm Deidara."

"O...Oh."

"So, since I've told you something, does that mean you're going to tell me why you're hiding?" Deidara asked. After a moment, Hinata responded.

"Tonight is prom at my high school," she said simply, hoping he'd understand without her needing to explain.

"And your parents don't want you to go?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, my father…was supportive," Hinata corrected, her voice barely audible. The eyebrows went higher.

"You don't have a date?"

"No," Hinata said, remembering how Neji, Kiba, and Shino had all offered. "I had t-too many." The curved arches of short hair over his eyes rose another millimeter.

"Do you dislike your dress, or something?"

"No, it was beautiful," Hinata sighed, thinking of how she looked like a princess in the lacy gown. Deidara's eyebrows went through the roof.

"The why the hell are you hiding because tonight is prom?" he barked. Hinata jerked upright, knocking her head on the top of the table for the second time.

"I…don't like…dancing," she finished lamely, blushing as the words entered the air between them and entwined their fates together.

"Okay," Deidara said after a moment. "I can handle that." He reached for his energy drink and took a swig around his sucker. "I never liked dancing either," he said conversationally, studying the drink can for a moment before setting it down again. "But why don't you just tell your friends that?"

"Well…" Hinata said slowly. "It's…well, they think I'm just shy."

"Which you are," Deidara said firmly. Hinata stared at him. "Um, it's obvious?" he said. "As obvious as the fact that nuclear chemistry is shit?"

"O…okay." Hinata looked down, blushing.

"That's okay, you know," Deidara said. "Being shy isn't necessarily bad." He reached out and raked the expanse of papers into his lap.

"It's not?"

"No," he said plainly. "Not really."

"Then why do-"

"Because they're bastards," Deidara interrupted. Hinata gaped at him. "It's a damn good answer to any question," he explained with a grin before tucking the remainder of his papers inside his binder. "Now come on," he said, setting the binder to the side. The grin still on his face, he unzipped his sweatshirt and shrugged out of it, revealing a tight black tee-shirt and muscular, tan arms. "How many are out there?"

"What…what do you m-mean?"

"How many people are looking for you?"

"Um…eleven?"

"Good grief," Deidara laughed as he tossed his sweatshirt at her; Hinata flinched as it landed in her lap. "Got enough friends?"

"What's this for?" she asked, lifting the jacket to look at it skeptically.

"A disguise," he said. Hinata stared at him blankly. "To get you out of here," he continued.

"What…why?"

"I told you, I'm bored," he said quickly. "And they're going to find you sooner or later if you don't get out now. So let's go." Without waiting for her to answer, Deidara grabbed his drink, tucked his binder under one arm, and crawled out from underneath the table.

Hinata stared blankly at the place where he had just been sitting. Despite all of the never-go-with-anywhere-with-strangers training she had gone through during her life, the appeal of the situation was still strong. After all, who said she had to go anywhere with him once they left the library? And anyways, hadn't she said she'd do anything to escape having to go to prom?

"Hey, are you planning on camping out here tonight, or something?" Deidara's smiling face appeared under the edge of the table, and, with an inward sigh, Hinata nodded and slid out from under the table. She stood gracefully to her sandaled feet, his sweatshirt clenched in her folded arms.

"Just…out of the library?"

"Sure," Deidara grinned. "Then, we'll see." Hinata looked at him for a long moment, then slid her arms through the jacket sleeves and zipped it up to the neck. "Hood up," Deidara ordered. "We've got to hide that purple hair of yours." Hinata blushed and pulled the black hood up around her head, casting shadows across her wide eyes and pale cheeks. The thick material smelled of cologne and smoke of the non-cigarette kind; when Deidara turned away, Hinata discretely pressed her nose against it, inhaling more sharply. Yes, cologne, smoke, and some sort of harsh chemical scent.

"Okay," Deidara said briskly as he slid the binder inside a nearly empty black book bag that sat on the far end of the table. "You, carry this," he ordered, shoving his energy drink into her hand. Hinata gaped at him, then at the can. "I get the feeling you're not the type for energy drinks," he said with a grin. "That'll throw your friends off."

"Right," Hinata said slowly, still staring at the can.

"It's not poison, you know," Deidara prompted.

"That's a matter of opinion," Hinata said firmly.

"Do you drink coffee?" he asked.

"Sometimes."

"Well, then, we're at equilibrium," Deidara said cheerfully. "You take your poison, I take mine." He reached forward and pulled the hood further over Hinata's face; she froze at his movement and did not move again until he turned away to sling his book-bag strap over his head and one shoulder. The shadow of the hood hid the deepness of her blush; still, Hinata looked away once he turned back around. "Stay close," he ordered. "We'll leave by the front exit, alright?"

"Al-alright," Hinata said.

"Alright," Deidara repeated. "Here we go."

They left the Webster's on the floor underneath the conference table.

"Head down," Deidara ordered as they walked quickly across the floor. "Hold the can up like you're proud of it." He laughed at her expression of disgust and shoved his hands inside his jean pockets, damp blonde hair blowing over his shoulder in the movement of the air.

As they rounded the corner into a larger room, full of computers and long bookshelves, Hinata caught sight of Sakura, Ino, and Kiba standing with the rest of their group across the room; even Neji was there. Well, she though, at least they were all in one place.

Unconsciously, she moved closer to Deidara, bumping against his side in the jolting movement of their walk. Without hesitation, he slid his arm around her lower waist, pulling her hip against his as they moved.

"So that's them, huh?" he commented, apparently unaware of Hinata's suddenly stiffened body pressed against his. "Preppy looking bunch, aren't they?" He wasn't really expecting an answer; he didn't get one. Hinata was too busy trying to ignore the tingle she felt in her stomach -- the kind she usually got before a big performance, or when her father was evaluating her routine.

They moved through the room quickly, weaving around computer tables and the library patrons easily; Deidara led as if they were one. Bits of the conversation of Hinata's friends drifted to them from across the room: "I don't know where she could have gone!"; "It's not like her to disappear…"; "Man, I thought she'd put up with it, but boy, was I wrong!" The last piece was from Kiba, said in surprise as he rubbed a hand through his tangled brown curls. A moment later, a librarian told the lot of them to quiet down, and then Deidara and Hinata were pushing through the double glass doors and out onto the sunlit street.

"Haha, suckers!" Deidara laughed, stretching both his arms into the air in victory. Hinata immediately stepped away; he was too engrossed in his celebration to notice. "Let's keep moving," he said with a grin. "They might be coming out soon."

"Which way?" Hinata asked shyly, reaching up with both hands to pull the hood away from her face.

"Where do you want to go?" Deidara asked in return.

"Um…"

"Alright, left," he laughed, taking off down the stairs without waiting for her. "Come on, Hinata!"

And, entirely unsure of why, or even how, she followed, Hinata went.

Some things are transient. Some are forever. Some things make you want to cry, while others make laughter of the infectious kind invade the surrounding neighborhood. Some things make you angry, others make you sad. Some things are unbearable, while others make you stronger.

But some things, Hyuga Hinata reasoned, are just meant to be.

* * *

Reviews would be wonderful :)


	2. Okay

Couldn't resist. One more chapter, which can be expected very soon. All these names that you recognize belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Some Things: _Okay_**

by **green see-through ghosts**

* * *

I'm going to die, Hinata thought desperately, fighting against the fear inspired hyperventilation that threatened to take control of her muscles. I - am - going - to die!

"Come on," Deidara sighed from ten feet above her, trying to hide the laughter in his eyes and tone. "It's _really _not that high."

_Hinata, your entire future depends on the use of your arms and legs! _her brain screamed in a voice highly similar to Neji's as she reached for the next branch. _What are you doing CLIMBING A TREE??_

"Um…" she murmured, her eyes nearly crossing from the nearness of the rough tree-bark to her nose. "Where-?"

"Bring your right foot up about a foot and a half," Deidara instructed. "There. Now grab that branch with your left arm- got it." The easy-going blonde coached her through the last few feet of tree climbing, then steadied her as she slid carefully onto the thick branch beside him, clutching herself to the trunk as if to keep from being blown away by the breeze that failed to even ruffle the leaves. "See?" Deidara laughed as he reached into his book-bag, withdrew a sucker, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. "Not that high," he said around the sweet, his voice coming out slightly garbled.

The tree that he had somehow convinced her to climb was near the edge of a city park, which was about a quarter of a mile from the library-- a huge oak covered in early spring green leaves that looked as if it had withstood the barrage of a thousand years just to be there for them on that day. The branch that Deidara had chosen was about twenty-five feet up -- not _that _high, reasoned Hinata. And anyways, the branches between them and the ground would catch her if she fell…right?

"Um…o-okay."

"Want one?"

_Candy from a stranger, candy from a stranger_! her inner-Neji chanted as she stared at the orange-wrapped Tootsie-Roll Lollypop grasped in Deidara's steady hand.

"Th-thanks," she said softly, releasing the tree with one hand just long enough to accept the candy.

"Really," Deidara laughed. "Your balance can't be that bad -- just put your feet on the branch below. And anyways, I won't let you fall."

Hinata blushed, but didn't answer as she carefully unwrapped the sucker. After tucking the sweet against the inside of her right cheek, she smoothed out the paper against her leg, using a purple-painted fingernail to scrape away the crinkles.

"Did you get the Indian?" Deidara asked idly, turning his head to look down at her. Hinata glanced up, surprised; locked gazes with the blonde; and then looked down, confused by his question. "Yup," Deidara said, reaching over to tap his index finger against the sketch of the Indian boy aiming his bow up at a star. "Free sucker," he said, almost to himself, as if the word had come out without his consent -- a bit of a memory that was siphoned out in his expression.

"W-what do you m-mean?" Hinata asked as the sugary, orangey flavor caused a strange sense of déjà vu in her memory.

"When I was little, all the kids said that you'd get a free sucker if you got a wrapper with an 'Indian-Shooting-Star' on it," Deidara explained. "So we'd always try to find the suckers with the Indian on them whenever we got 'em." He laughed. "If I ever find the bastard that started that rumor, I'd sure give him something to complain about." Hinata tilted her head to one side and lifted her eyes to the darkening sky, startled by just how close she felt to it.

The words were never spoken, but Hinata felt that it was now her turn to share a story. So, right arm wrapped around the tree, she pulled the sucker out with her left hand -- talking around it was troublesome -- and rested her arm against her leg.

"My c-cousin and I u-used to be home sc-schooled," she said, so softly that Deidara almost couldn't hear her. She missed the movement, but he leaned closer towards her, his feet swinging in the empty air beneath them as he listened closely to her words. "If we d-did well on tests, his f-father w-would t-take us to the c-candy store and b-buy us a reward, he c-called it. If we d-didn't choose quickly enough, he'd a-always choose these f-for us. They remind me of h-him."

"Is he still around?" Deidara asked nonchalantly. Hinata lifted her eyes to the sky once again and shook her head.

"He…he gave his l-life to pr-protect someone he l-loved," she admitted, tightening her grip around the tree for a moment as her memories replayed through her mind for a short flash.

"Lucky him," Deidara said lightly.

"What about y-you?" Hinata asked in a rare moment of forwardness.

"My family?" Deidara sighed, intermixed with laughter. "I don't have any 'real' family," he admitted, "but I've got some close friends who've been around with me for a while." He chuckled darkly. "Sometimes I wish they weren't, but they usually stick around anyways."

"So d-do mine," Hinata acknowledged with a single nod.

"So," Deidara asked slowly. "What are you, a sophomore?"

"Junior," she corrected.

"And I'm a junior in college," he sighed. "Sometimes, the age differences become so painfully clear."

"You're not _that _old," Hinata protested in a rather small voice.

"But I feel like it," Deidara countered. "Here you are, escaping prom, and I've got the exams of a lifetime tomorrow." He sighed, then yawned, all in quick succession. "I don't think I ever went to prom either," he mumbled under his breath, staring up at the dusky sky with apparent disinterest.

"Why not?" Hinata asked softly, sliding one hand inside the front pocket of her sweatshirt as she glanced up at him.

"Wasn't really the type," he said with a shrug. "I was usually too busy blowing stuff up, anyways -- not literally," he added at the startled look on her face. "I mean, not on a large scale," he corrected himself.

"You like…explosives?"

"Yup," he said casually. Then, after a moment, "What do you like?"

"Well…um…dance," Hinata said slowly, trying not to laugh at the hypocrisy of it.

"I thought you hated dancing," he said, eyebrows raised.

"Just…certain types of d-dancing," Hinata corrected herself.

"What kinds do you like, then?" he asked, eyebrows still raised.

"Ballet…and…some gymnastics," Hinata explained when he glanced at her questioningly. He nodded shortly, as if it was the answer he expected.

"Been doing it long?" he asked, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind his ear as he spoke. Hinata glanced at him sideways out of the corner of her eye to see him doing the same thing. They both looked away.

"S…sort of," she answered. "My m-mother taught me before she…she died. Then I want to a s-studio."

"Okay," Deidara said. "Are you any good?" Hinata blushed, thinking about the National Review and full scholarship to college.

"S…sort of," she said with a nervous shrug.

"Sort of?" he repeated. "How can you be _sort of _good?" He glanced over, caught sight of her flaming cheeks, and laughed. "Okay," he said with a grin. "New topic, huh?" Hinata's eyes widened; she turned to look at him and slipped a little on the branch, grasping frantically at the tree-trunk to keep from falling. "Careful there," he laughed, reaching over to steady her.

"What…what are we d-doing?" Hinata asked suddenly.

"Um…sitting on a tree branch, I think," Deidara answered slowly. "Is this a trick question, or something?"

"N-no," Hinata said, looking away without being satisfied.

"Look, if you just want me to walk you home or something, I will," he said seriously. "Or if you want me to screw off now, I will." He shrugged. "But if _you _don't mind just talking, I definitely don't."

"W-why?"

"Like I said, Hinata, I'm bored," Deidara stated. "And well, a little lonely, I guess. You remind me of my little sister."

"I do?" she asked, startled.

"Sure thing," he said with a grin. Hinata remembered his words earlier. _Cats don't count, Hinata_, and the sad grin with which they were said.

"Okay," she said without really thinking about it.

"Okay," Deidara repeated, grinning down at her through his unruly hair.

--

They talked about friends and family for nearly an hour, until Hinata was no longer holding on to the trunk and Deidara was on his third sucker. "I go through these things like a kid goes through diapers," he said, grinning sheepishly as she shook her head at him. She nodded, and the two lapsed into silence. The sky was now almost entirely dark; the only light in the park came from the streetlights and the glowing front of a fancy hotel on the street just outside the park. Despite the hour, the traffic was beginning to increase instead of decrease; a surprisingly large amount of people were arriving at the hotel by all methods of transportation.

"I w-wonder what's going on," Hinata mused out loud without paying too much attention to the scene. At her words, Deidara took a closer look at the sign posted just outside the door.

"Hinata," he said slowly, squinting towards the light, "what did you say the name of your school was?"

"Fireleaf…H-High-school?"

"And prom was tonight?"

"Yes?"

"Huh." He glanced at her, then back at the sign, and read, "Fireleaf High Prom: Dancing in the Moonlight." Hinata's face instantly paled; she stared at the hotel and the arriving cars, finally realizing with a surprising jolt that she recognized half of the people entering.

"How a-absurd."

"I'd say," Deidara laughed. "Too bad, eh? Might as well go since you're here?"

"No," Hinata sighed.

"What is it?" Deidara asked softly, glancing over somewhat warily. Dealing with sad females was an area in which he had little experience, and needless to say, he approached the topic with care. "You…okay?"

"Yeah," Hinata said slowly. "But if we don't get down before my cousin gets here, I'll be in trouble."

"You think he'd be able to see us?" Deidara asked incredulously.

"He has a w-way of seeing everything," Hinata stated firmly.

"Well, should we go?" Deidara asked after a moment of her non-action.

"If you want to," Hinata said. "I…well, I guess I don't really c-care either way. It's too late for me to g-get dressed in t-time, and I d-do sorta need to t-tell him where I w-was."

"Was he looking for you earlier?" Deidara asked. Hinata nodded. "And he might be a little upset that you disappeared?"

"He might be a lot upset that I disappeared," Hinata said frankly, speaking without a stutter for one of the first times that day.

"You don't want to save it till later?"

"No w-way," she laughed. "I w-won't t-take all the blame for this."

"I didn't think you would," Deidara said with a grin.

They sat in silence for another minute, now focused on the students flooding the brightly lit building.

"What should I expect?" Deidara asked after a minute. "I mean, how much do you two look alike?" he corrected himself, noticing a moment after Hinata did that his former question was too vague in so many ways, shapes, and forms.

"We have the s-same eyes," Hinata said thoughtfully.

"Impossible," Deidara stated, and he didn't offer to elaborate.

"Well…um…he…we l-look alike," she finished lamely, her cheeks suddenly much darker than they had been before.

"Good to know," Deidara said shortly, though he inwardly disagreed without ever even seeing the older Hyuga.

"He's very stern," Hinata added.

"So I gathered." They sat in silence for another moment until a white limousine pulled up to the hotel curb. "That'd p-probably b-be them," Hinata said softly.

"Them?"

"They were p-planning on al c-coming together," she explained. And, sure enough, a few seconds later, a bundle of crazy-looking teens began to spill out of the limo, filling the air with laughter and conversation moments after their arrival.

"The life of the party, huh?" Deidara commented cynically.

"You have no idea," Hinata sighed. "I just hope Neji doesn't-"

"HINATA!"

"Oh, damn," she muttered under her breath as ten pairs of eyes and one pair of glasses turned their attention on her and Deidara, obviously visible enough through the darkness and trees to stand out to those who knew what to look for. Deidara laughed out loud, tilting his head back to stare up at the sky as he ignored the sudden attention -- or perhaps played up to it.

"Well, so much for that," he chuckled. "Was that your cousin?"

"No," Hinata sighed. "_That _was Kiba."

"Here comes the cavalry," he whispered as eleven people made their way towards the park instead of the prom. "Are you sure you don't want to run? There's still time."

"Appealing, b-but…no," Hinata sighed, wrapping her arm around the tree-trunk again as the first people -- a long-haired, scowling eighteen year old and a sixteen year old with triangular red birthmarks on his cheeks -- reached the grass. "I…well, I have it coming, you know."

"I suppose," Deidara said, raising his eyebrows skeptically. The disagreement part of his statement was never added, but Hinata could hear it even in his begrudging consent.

"Hinata!"

"Hello Kiba, N-Neji."

"What the hell are you doing?" Kiba growled, coming to a stop just in front of the branch with his hands fisted on his hips, though the question was directed more towards Deidara than Hinata.

"Sitting in a tree," Deidara said plainly. Hinata felt her face color as everyone's mind instantly latched on to the childhood rhyme of death -- So-so and so-so, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes-

"Hinata, where did you go?" Neji asked, interrupting everyone's train of thought at precisely the right time -- everyone except Shikamaru, whose train of thought was always a bit faster than everyone else's; he had time to get to the disturbing part of the rhyme, which must have been why he was the victim of a sudden debilitating coughing fit.

"I…well, um, I j-just went on a-a-a-walk," Hinata said, grasping at ideas like lifelines.

"With who?" Kiba challenged, eyes still locked on the long-haired blonde sitting beside his friend.

"The name's Deidara," he said nonchalantly. Neji frowned.

"He's a n-nuclear c-chemistry major at the c-c-college," Hinata said quickly, hoping that the information might help. It didn't.

"You're a college student?" Kiba yelled.

"And you're a high-scholar," Deidara added brightly. "Now that we've got that cleared up, we can all get along."

"Hinata, come down," Neji ordered.

"N-Neji-"

"Why don't you ask a little more politely?" Deidara interrupted lazily, looking down at Neji with the sort of cool appraisal used for annoying bugs.

"You can shut up," Neji said coldly, glaring back at him with what was affectionately termed the Neji-stare-of-death.

"Neji!" a brown haired girl in the back of the group hissed. She pushed her way to the front, nearly tripping on her strappy-high-heel shoes before coming to a stop beside the coffee-haired Hyuga. "Don't be so rude," she admonished. "Really, maybe you guys should go inside-"

"No way," Kiba and Neji barked simultaneously.

"Hinata, will you come down?" the brown-haired girl pleaded, looking up at her friend with a small smile on her face.

"I…okay." Hinata looked at Deidara and shrugged; he frowned and shrugged. But unlike Hinata, he didn't slide along the branch to the tree-trunk and begin climbing down. He simply waited until she was about halfway down the tree before pushing himself off the branch.

A collective gasp went up from the students as he landed in a crouch on the grass after a short stop on a lower branch, straightening up to stare back at Neji for a moment before turning to help Hinata out of the tree.

"Thanks," she said softly, in a voice unheard by the others.

"No problem," he whispered back.

"Why didn't you just tell us that you didn't want to go, Hinata?" Kiba interrupted, stepping forward to glare at her as Deidara moved back.

"I did, Kiba," she said quietly. "You d-didn't really listen."

Kiba stared at her open-mouthed. Tenten giggled.

"Hey," a lazy, drawling voice called from near the back of the group. "I'm going."

"Good," Kiba deadpanned over his shoulder at the black-haired, black-eyed teen.

"Come on, Sakura." The pink-haired girl in the back gave a little wave to Hinata before turning away, striding across the grass on the arm of the suited, black-haired boy. Her maroon dress set off her hair and her date's suit nicely; Sakura and Sasuke took Naruto, Choji, and Shikamaru with them.

"But why don't you want to go?" Ino asked, looking extremely mournful as she stepped forward to stand beside Kiba. Her blonde hair was done up in an extravagant style, more of it sticking out from the bun than was fastened inside it -- much like her dress, a blue and cream pouf that looked a bit like a bunch of cotton-balls that had been pulled in all the wrong directions, and yet still managed to make Ino look like a goddess .

"I d-don't like to d-dance like that," Hinata said with a shrug.

"You don't _have _to dance at prom, you know," Ino said shortly.

It was Hinata's turn to stare blankly.

"You can sit and talk with people if you want to," she continued. "And if you feel like dancing later, you can." She laughed. "Really, Hinata, you don't have to dance."

"Still," Hinata said, only to be interrupted by her cousin.

"It's really important to some of the girls," Neji said quietly. "And your father."

"But…I…"

"If we go now to dress you up, we'll be back in less than half an hour," Ino stated.

"I-"

"Please?" This from Kiba, who turned puppy-eyes so big that normal girls would have had a dramatic -- overly dramatic -- reaction, on her.

"I really d-don't-"

"Then it's settled," Ino said happily. "Let's go, Hinata. Neji?"

"Yes," Neji said calmly. "Come on, Hinata."

The girl stared at him for a moment, then lowered her head and turned to Deidara.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"It's all right," he said nonchalantly. "After all, I don't think you ever really said yes."

"Still-"

"It's okay, Hinata," the blonde laughed. "Really. I'll see you around, okay?" And, with a smile that Hinata missed the moment it was gone, he turned away, book bag slung over his shoulder, and tromped off into the darkness of the park.

"Let's go," Ino repeated, pulling Hinata along by the elbow before she was ready to move even a millimeter.

And so the young Hyuga was led away, like a fair maiden to the executioner's block, with memories of a hero, but no solid presence beside her. And what good is a remembered hero?

_Obviously_, Hinata thought glumly as Ino manhandled her into the limo, _not much_.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Reviews would be wonderful.


	3. Perfect

Final Chapter. But don't worry, there's more Deidara/Hinata on the way sometime. All names you recognize belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Some Things: Perfect

by green see-through ghosts

* * *

"You don't have to dance at prom, you know."

_Yeah, the theme __**Dancing in the Moonlight**__ is just for kicks. _

"You can sit and talk with people if you want to."

_What, really? I mean, that's NOT what I do every single day at school, is it?_

"And if you feel like dancing later, you can."

_Really?! Dance…if I feel like it? When I'm going when I __**don't **__feel like it? What a novel idea!_

"It's really important to some of the girls-"

_So are boyfriends, but that doesn't mean I'd offer to be one. _

"And your father."

_…_

Hinata sighed, once, deeply, and then sighed again.

"Oh, stop it," Tenten laughed. "You look _beautiful_, Hinata."

"Th-thank-you, Tenten," the dark-haired girl said quietly, barely glancing at her friend before turning her gaze on the black window again.

"What do you say?" Ino said proudly as she eyed her handiwork once again. "Am I a miracle worker or what?"

"Sure," Kiba said, leaning over to kiss his date's cheek before turning to Hinata, who looked away from him with a small, inaudible sigh. Sure, she was now wearing the gorgeous knee-length dress, the skirt a lavender poof from her waist and the strapless bodice covered in lace and pearls. Sure, her hair was twisted and clipped into a bun, her bangs and certain locks left free to edge her face. Yes, she was wearing a pearl necklace and pearl earrings and silvery flats, and Ino had sprayed her with some fruity scent after she'd lined her eyes in delicate makeup. She looked nice -- and, she admitted to herself, she felt nice -- but none of it really made up for the cut-off evening with the intriguing and thoughtful Deidara.

Then again, it didn't really make up for an evening with a book and a cup of hot tea either. Chai Green Tea, with just a bit of honey, in the black flower mug, and Dickens, or maybe even-

"Hinata, snap out of it!"

Hinata jumped in her seat and turned to face the glaring Neji, a sheepishly shameful expression on her face. "Good grief," he sighed.

"S-sorry," she muttered, blushing red as she looked away.

"Don't blush," Ino ordered. "The color ruins the eye-shadow." She smiled to show that the words were meant in a kindly manner, but that didn't help Hinata's self-esteem.

"Do you want me to find Naruto and have him-"

"No!" Hinata cut Kiba off before he could finish. "N-no, Kiba, I'm f-fine."

"How about Lee?" Tenten asked. Hinata shook her head. "Shino?"

"I'm really _fine_," Hinata stressed, feeling the anger at her friends rise up inside her for the umpteenth time that night.

"We just want you to have fun," Ino said softly.

_If you wanted me to have fun, you wouldn't have forced me to come, now, would you? _

"We're here," Neji said bluntly, and the conversation ended.

Before she could slide out of the limousine onto the hotel curb, her cousin stopped her with a gentle, but firm, grip on her arm.

"We'll be right in," he told Tenten. "You guys go ahead."

"Alright," Tenten said after a moment. "But hurry up! We don't want to miss the crowning." Neji nodded silently, and Hinata simple looked away again. Once their friends were gone and the door was closed, Neji spoke.

"I'm…sorry," he said, speaking as if it pained him to admit it. Hinata looked up at him, surprised, but he did not meet her eyes. "But I promised your father that you'd be here tonight." Hinata nodded silently, not even really bothering to acknowledge what he said as she looked away again. "He…he wanted to see you before you left."

_To judge me._

"He didn't have the chance, so he wanted me to give this to you," Neji continued. He reached inside his jacket pocket and withdrew a small, black velvet box. "He said it was your mother's." Without another word, Neji slid the box into her hand, leaving it to her to open it.

She stared at him for a moment, then down at the box, then back at him. He rolled his eyes, then smiled, though it looked as if it pained him.

"Go ahead," he ordered. Hinata stared at him for another moment, then ran a fingertip across the delicate velvet before flipping the box open. Resting on the white satin was a silvery chain bracelet, thick strands of metal twisted and braided to form the slightly flexible ornament. Attached at several areas around the chain were small letters of different colors, in particular three different letter H's attached between more commonplace charms and various other letters. The first was a bold capital H, colored gold, that rested in-between a tiny silver sword and a black enamel heart with a J engraved in it. The second H, a lower-case white-silver letter, hung between the black heart and a detailed rocking horse. And the third, a sparkling amethyst, uppercase, curvy letter H, was fastened between another heart -- this one steel in appearance -- and a tiny pink letter D in the form of a ballerina.

Hinata stared, and stared, and stared.

"Well?" Neji asked.

Wordlessly, she reached inside the box, gently tugging the bracelet from its satin fastenings.

"I see," Neji said plainly after a moment. "Should I be offended that there is no N?"

Still silent, Hinata turned the bracelet until the small steel heart was facing him. Neji studied the ornament for a moment before realizing that there was a curvy letter N carved into the heart, an ornate and utterly ridiculous letter, but acknowledgment of him.

"I…your father said she wished you would have this," Neji said slowly. "When you came of age. And…well, your father felt that this was appropriate."

"Traditional," Hinata whispered, looking past the bracelet and into Neji's eyes.

"Yes," Neji said thoughtfully. "And it saves him the trouble of having to throw a debutant ball." Hinata stared at him for another moment, then giggled.

"There's a D," she said.

"Yes," Neji said, raising his eyebrows. "Um, for dance?"

"Sure," Hinata giggled, though dance was not the D word she was thinking of. Granted, the owner of the D word she _was _thinking of wouldn't have appreciated the princess pink or the ballerina, but hey. If he was anything like her, he'd take what he could get.

"Here," Neji said with another small smile, this one less pained. "I'll help you fasten it."

--

She'd find him -- somehow. Amongst the scattered burst of light and heavy dance music, Hinata wondered and planned. Maybe the librarian would know who he was, or she could find his address from the college. After all, how many Deidara's could there be in one area of science? She might even find him at the library if she hung out enough.

She wasn't having fun, but then again, she wasn't exactly miserable. The padded booth on the edge of the huge dance room was hidden just enough to make her feel invisible, but still able to observe her friends. Kiba or Neji was always close enough to scare away any of the teenage males who even thought about approaching her, which, for the millionth time in her life, she was grateful for. Hinata was the sort of girl who didn't mind being a wallflower in the slightest.

Still, after nearly an hour and a half, she was beginning to get bored. Unbearably bored. To the tenth power. But her escape from the room didn't quite go as planned. Almost as soon as she'd stood from the table, scaring a bunch of freshmen who'd been hiding on the other side of the partition, the dance music changed. The song must have been popular -- Hinata faintly recognized it from radio play -- as throngs of students suddenly stampeded the floor, catching Hinata in the midst of them.

She stumbled backwards, realizing with a suddenly jumping heart that she was stuck in the middle of the crowd. All alone, without friends or an escape route, without room to breath or think or see or hear. She was deaf and blind, caught up as a bit of nothingness in a world of movement and reality. In that one moment, Hyuga Hinata was nothing.

Then she was free. Not from the crowd, not from her friends, not from society's conceptions -- but from herself. Bumped to and fro by the bodies thrashing around her; Hinata stilled. A elbow knocked her in the side, and she stifled a smile. Someone glared at her for getting in the way, and Hinata didn't shrink away or blush. The charm bracelet felt heavy and cold against his wrist; she pressed it against her stomach, startled by the chill through the silky material.

So her mother was there, giving a blessing to the daughter she'd lost; indeed, it'd never been the other way around. The ones we call lost are always there, waiting to be called on; we are the ones who are truly lost when we deny them this right -- the right of their memory to comfort us. And in that moment of losing herself, Hinata found the thing that she had released so many years ago -- her foundation, her corner-stone, her base.

_What had she to cry about?_ The time for crying had past, and the time to remember had begun. _What had she to fear?_ Fear was of darkness, and nothing of the sort could thrive in the beauty of memory. _What had she to hide from?_

"Nothing," she whispered. And with that, she began moving through the crowd with the inborn grace of a true dancer, hardly brushing against the fellow teens in her movement. No longer clumsy, because she was on her true stage -- not that wooden platform that we idolize, but that cracked asphalt that only we can make beautiful.

She broke free from the crowd just as the music progressed into the chorus. Stopping on the edge of the dance floor, she listened for a short moment, hoping that maybe, her mother would speak to her through the music -- as if the sudden transformation would have some sort of movement on every bit of her surroundings.

No such luck. She heard something about "3, 6, 9," and "Get low," before she stopped listening with a small smile and a shake of her head. Who cared? If anything, it was just encouragement to leave the room; which she promptly did, walking swiftly towards the set of double doors that lead to the lobby. She stopped briefly at the door to let a couple few, then lifted her foot to continue.

"I wonder," a surprisingly familiar voice said from somewhere just behind her, "why they never get a decent DJ for these things." Hinata froze, realizing a moment too late that with a foot in mid-air for another step forward, now wasn't the time to freeze. _No worries, though_, she thought inwardly as a warm hand grasped her elbow and pulled her upright before she could fall any further. "You know?" Deidara continued. "I mean, the least they could do is get something half-way appropriate to play."

"Why would they?" Hinata laughed. "After a-all, it's a teen d-dance, you know. The last thing they're w-worried about is b-being appropriate."

"I suppose," Deidara said dryly. "Still, it's a bit…lame, don't you think?"

"C-course," Hinata said. "You lied about your sister."

"You knew I lied."

"Course."

"You ready, then?"

"Where are we h-headed?"

"No idea."

"P-perfect."

--

"_What if God were one of us…Just a slob like one of us…Just a stranger on a bus…trying to make his way home…"_

Hinata inwardly groaned, long and mournfully, with tints of a _why-me_ attitude involved. The bus driver _had _to be playing this on purpose. There was simply no way it could play on any radio station twice in a row, simply no-

"Good Lord," Deidara muttered under his breath, twisting around in his seat to glare at the driver. "Next song, please," he said, a little louder than necessary. The driver ignored him -- Hinata could have predicted that -- and Deidara crashed back into his seat, mumbling under his breath about nonexistent service.

Hinata didn't mind the song _that _much, but her friend of three weeks seemed to have a little different of a mentality towards it.

Deidara shoved his hand inside his ever-present book bag and withdrew an Ipod Classic without a case. The white finish was scratched, the screen light broken, and it looked…well, old, but he jerked out a pair of dangly headphones after it, so the thing must have still worked.

"Here," he muttered, dropping the Ipod in Hinata's lap and plunging his hand back inside the bag. A moment later, he brought out another pair of headphones and, a moment later, a splitter. "Take these," he ordered, dropping a pair of headphones in her lap while untangling the other pair. "And this," he added, holding the splitter out in her direction.

"_If God had a face, what would it look like…And would you want to see it…If seeing meant that you would have to believe…In things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets…" _

Hinata pulled the splitter free from his fingers and set up her side of the bargain as he cursed his way through the knots in his headphone cord.

"Alright," Deidara muttered, snatching the Ipod from her hand with fingers that brushed ever so lightly over her own. "Time to make our escape." He stuck his headphone cord into the extra slot of the splitter and inserted his ear-buds, motioning for Hinata to do the same.

"Goodbye acoustic angst," he muttered as he hit the play button with a vicious downward jab.

Hinata jumped a foot off the seat as the sound of heavy grating guitar that was ten times louder than it should have been filled her ear cavities, accompanied by an obnoxious high-hat barrage and base strumming that was entirely too harsh.

"Woops," Deidara muttered, not that he could even hear himself. He grinned over at her and cranked the volume down a few notches. "Sorry," he mouthed. Hinata couldn't help it -- as her ears throbbed with the pounding rock and now, hysterical screaming, she smiled back at him, wincing as the beat chased all rational thought out of her head. While it wasn't quite a smile he was satisfied with -- three weeks and nothing more than this tiny twist upward -- Deidara once again felt that lightening of his emotions that came with her company.

He wasn't supposed to be a happy person -- he normally wasn't. One word for you -- cynic. But -- ah, the life-changing and ever-present _but _-- Hinata made him happy. And really, that's all there was to it.

"No that," he muttered under his breath, turning back to the Ipod. "Something…softer." He scrolled down through his list of artists, searching for a title that did not lead to heavy riffs and too-strong male vocals. He wasn't ashamed to admit that there was little of it. Deidara wasn't one to listen to soft or slow music. When he listened, he was usually trying to lose himself in the noise. Times when he actually wanted to enjoy the music came few and far between. But this felt different to him, and plus, Hinata really looked uncomfortable.

So, albeit slightly reluctantly -- he _liked _Killswitch Engage -- Deidara selected something slightly more geared towards the shy girl sitting beside him on the bus headed for the college.

There was a break in the music for a moment long enough for them to hear, "_He's trying to make his way home…Back up to heaven all alone_…" As Deidara growled viciously under his breath, the new music began.

John Frusciante, guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and solo artist, recorded nine solo albums. This particular guitar piece, a minute and eleven second long section titled _Ramparts_, came from the album To Record Only Water For Ten Days. Deidara had no real interest in the album, or the artist -- if he remembered correctly, his roommate had imported the stuff into his Itunes in the first place -- but he felt, rather vaguely, that is was the closest thing to soft that he had. And plus, this particular piece, especially the length, seemed to be…inspired.

Deidara settled back in the seat, crossing his arms over his chest in a satisfied manner; he caught sight of Hinata's black-faced/open-mouthed/wide-eyed expression out of the corner of his eye. The blue-eyed blonde turned towards her, the soft, driving guitar relaxing his mind so that a genuine smile came more easily than usual. Stunned, she stared back at him.

"Unexpected?" he mouthed. She nodded once and leaned back against the seat, focusing her eyes back on his face once he looked away. No need for her to tell him that the music matched the look in his eye , or that the key reminded her of her cousin's desperate cling to freedom, or of her desperate cling to him. No need for her to spoil the moment by trying to describe it.

Deidara reached over and picked up her hand -- not gently, not roughly, not flirtatiously. Just a matter-of-fact grasp, since that's how it was supposed to be. And Hinata blushed, because that's how she is, and Deidara rolled his eyes, because that's how _he _is. And in a minute and eleven seconds, the moment ended, but that didn't mean they let go. And long after the acoustic angst song ended -- long after the bus passed their stop -- they sat, listening to something difference. After all, wasn't the decision to try something different what had brought them together in the first place?

But there was really no need to try and describe it, or to pay attention to the details. Details were for his explosions and her dances. Neither of them cared about the details when they were together, and anyways, nothing ever really went as planned.

* * *

The End! Reviews would be wonderful, and thanks for reading!


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